No. 5 Bulldogs Prepare for EARC Sprints

May 07, 2009

May 7, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -
After a promising win of the Vogel Cup two weekends ago, the No. 5 Yale men's lightweight crew team has had a lot of time to practice and make adjustments. The Bulldogs hope that all their hard work these past two weeks will translate into success on the water when they compete at the EARC Sprints this Sunday, in Worcester, Mass.

The Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges is a rowing conference associated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The member colleges who participate in the lightweight race are No. 8 Columbia, No. 6 Cornell, No. 9 Dartmouth, No. 4 Georgetown, No. 2 Harvard, No. 10 MIT, No. 3 Navy, No. 7 Pennsylvania, No. 1 Princeton, Rutgers and No. 5 Yale. The Eastern Sprints will take place on Lake Quinsigamond and will serve as the de facto Ivy League Championship. Despite the participation of non-Ivy League universities, the final standings for the Ivy League Championship will be determined by each Ivy League school's placement at the Eastern Sprints, in relation to the other Ivies.

At last year's Eastern Sprints, though they held an early lead, the Elis came in third place overall, losing to Cornell by 4.42 seconds and Princeton by 1.71 seconds. However, the Bulldogs did manage to grab a gold medal at the Sprints, as the Yale first freshman boat won its race for the second consecutive year. The Y150 squad also tied with Cornell for overall points, however Cornell took the Jope Cup because the first varsity eight race served as a tiebreaker.

This year the Bulldogs go into the Eastern Sprints ranked fifth in the EARC, but with enough reason to believe that they have a good shot at bringing home the gold. In fact, eventual champion Cornell was ranked fourth heading into last year's race. Furthermore, the Elis have raced competitively with all four crews ranked ahead of them, and they beat No. 3 Navy in the Johnson Cup earlier in the season.

The Yale second and third varsity eights are both ranked first, and the Yale freshman eight is ranked second going into the race.